If you could go back in time and erase the whole book and start from scratch, what would be your vision for the setting?

It would have to include a re-write of NGR and Mindwerks as well because the Atlantis-backed Gargoyle Empire makes it too hard to actually justify just about anything in Europe.

Scrap the Technomancy and Arthurian stuff.  If you want it to still have one of the big bads either have it be a Faerie Queen or else put England into a Neo-Viking vibe with Scandanavia and make the extra-dimensional threat Ragnarok.  Neo-Viking tech-empire that's fighting in Germania against Gargoyles and is trying to institute the new Danelaw in England but with a safe and highly-advanced homeland across Kattegat is more interesting than what we got (NGR=slightly less Neo-Nazi version of Coalition).  I'd even have the Neo-Vikings be some sort of d-bee influenced society that is primarily Earth born but incorporates heavy elements from trans-dimensional sources.  Have it be Earth first and tense relations with Coalition but not goody two-shoes like Tolkien.

I'd dump the unrelated Temporal Raider, Earth/Star-Child, etc. and put focus on a New Camelot with a genuinely returned Arthur (Avalon being a dimensional pocket that was sealed off as the magic faded and only re-opened with the coming of the Rifts) and a new Round Table holding the line against the incursions of the Gargoyle Empire. They'd have a magic variant of the cyber-knight (i.e. innate magic abilities instead of innate psi-abilities) as the primary new OCC associated with the organization.

I'd keep the Millennium Trees, but give them the spin that instead of being sapient themselves, they absorb the memories and essence/PPE of those who give themselves to the tree (usually at the end of their lives) so that they continue to live on within the matrix of the Millennium Tree; able to give power and guidance to those who learn to speak with the Tree.

Then I'd tie Merlin to it (he was one such Millennium Druid who wielded the power of one of the last Millennium Trees in the ancient world before the magic got too thin. The legends of him being trapped in a tree when Camelot fell were misinterpretations of his giving his memories and essence to the Tree when he died). The Order of Merlin OCC would be for those who follow in Merlin's footsteps wielding the power of the Millennium Trees against evil (and staunch allies of New Camelot).

I'd make Faerie a mirror dimension linked to the British Isles via micro-rifts at crossroads and trods warred over by the Seelie and Unseelie Courts; The Lords and Ladies of Faerie are actually dueling alien intelligences that project illusions onto their essence fragments that feed on the dreams of mortals (the Seelie Intelligence feeds on positive dreams, the Unseelie Intelligence on nightmares). I'd include a faerie-themed OCC for mortals abducted/tricked into the Faerie who return changed by the experience (often with the ability to wield faerie magic... it is believed Morgan le Fey was one of these).

The Formorians and Tuatha de Dannon would be two warring factions of D-bees whose worlds are periodically connected to various points in the Isles when magic is strong and each has their own beachhead in this world. The Tuatha are more about integrating and are natural techno-wizards/enchanters (including TW bionics like Nuada's silver arm), the Fomorians about conquering (and are powerful psions with a particularly potent 'evil eye'/bio-manipulation ability).

Finally, because my dad really loves them, I'd do something with the Celtic Berserkers; maybe make it some sort of magic ritual practice that grants supernatural strength and endurance. Perhaps various patterns of wode when infused with PPE produce different effects or maybe the Celts of the historical period used the blue wode as a remembrance of when they were able to paint their skins with pure magic (PPE naturally glowing blue in the setting).

Those are my ideas off the top of my head.

I'd want to keep the whole corrupted Camelot angle. I'd ditch the silly names (Myrrlyn, Arrthu... sheesh) and have it that the knights have taken psuedonyms of mythic heroes to inspire themselves and the populace.
Keep the alien intelligence and that it has possessed Merlin, and play up the Temporal Raider angle as the big bad of the setting. The outside danger that Merlin uses to consolidate his power, but he/it also encourages the conflict to feed on the emotions and PPE of it's victims.
Also, I'd have Arthur's sword be the Excalibur, and it's influence is a thorn in Merlin's plans, trying to influence Arthur.

I like that idea Ratman!

Quote from: Ras Algethi;1054438I like that idea Ratman!

Thanks! It was off the cuff. I usually focus on North America, so don't usually have a problem with the world books for other places, in general.

Quote from: Ninneveh;1054364If you could go back in time and erase the whole book and start from scratch, what would be your vision for the setting?

yes.

Adapt the whole Arthurian Cycle, As Interpreted By Greg Stafford (aka the Great Pendragon Campaign).

If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly.

Play it in Savage Worlds...

Quote from: Chris24601;1054397Those are my ideas off the top of my head.

Damn Chris24601 I really like your ideas for a rebooted Rifts British Isles, great stuff.

Quote from: RandyB;1054510Adapt the whole Arthurian Cycle, As Interpreted By Greg Stafford (aka the Great Pendragon Campaign).

If you're gonna be a bear, be a grizzly.

Great Pendragon Campaign in a rewritten Rifts: England? I... I think I might just have to run that.

Quote from: Gwarh;1054526Damn Chris24601 I really like your ideas for a rebooted Rifts British Isles, great stuff.

Thanks.

In thinking about it a little more, I think I could probably meld the Mystic Cyber-Knight OCC with the legend of Excalibur/the Sword in the Stone (I know they're generally two separate swords that get conflated a lot, but in this case that actually works because the blade in this case is half-real/half-metaphor). The idea would be that the inner focus required for the act of manifesting the "Psi-sword" is described as akin to pulling the sword from the stone (your own inner doubts and fears); those who can manage the feat are worthy of being a member of this heroic order. The Lady of the Lake was actually a practitioner of this art from another dimension who trained Arthur in the technique and his manifestation of this blade that could cleave through all other blades (Excalibur is essentially derived from Caliburn, the Latin word for steel, itself derived from the word "hard") is what allowed him to become a king (that and being charismatic enough to hold together a Latinized region of Britain after the immediate withdrawal of the Roman Empire).

In thinking about it more, I actually think making it basically a 'pre-cyber' version of the Cyber-Knight would be the way to go with them. Replace their anti-tech psi-abilities with a more general "precognitive combat sense" (since there would have been no tech for it to be used against in the dark ages of Britain) and the cyber-armor with a "psi-armor" (perhaps the origin of the stories about Mordred's armor that could not be pierced by any weapon forged by man... requiring a similarly potent Psi-Sword to actually pierce it).

The Knights of the Round Table were Arthur's disciples in this fighting tradition, recruited for their psychic potential as much as their honor. The many miracles associated with the legends of the Knights were actually them manifesting their psi-powers. All of this was lost when Camelot fell, but Arthur survived because he was taken to the realm of Avalon where time flowed differently; for him he convalesced there for months under the healing ministries of the Lady of the Lake (native to that dimension), but returned to find nearly two millennia had passed on Earth and that noble knights were needed now more than ever.

Quote from: ArtemisAlpha;1054529Great Pendragon Campaign in a rewritten Rifts: England? I... I think I might just have to run that.

Let us know how it goes. My money is on "beyond awesome".

I don't know what I'd do, but I probably wouldn't keep anything from the book as it is. There's a lot of RIFTS books I really love, but this is definitely not one of them.

I never found England too bad as a bad. Definite need of a rewrite imo. Rifts Africa is the main Rifts that needs a rewrite. Barely looked at in my collection with some weird attitudes by some of the playable races. A few refuse to use technology of any kind with little to no MDC. In a world where technology is prevalent any race that refuses to use some body armor is going to be wiped out. Or just easy prey to the Splugorth or any other slaver. It was just as bad as how some Native American tribes in Spirit West wanted to return back to the ways and only the ways of their ancestors of the days of the Wild West.